Washington -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- The unsolved murder of human rights activists in Russia . Their detention , torture and murder in Iran . Their jailing in China and Vietnam .

Attacks on journalists in the Philippines , Pakistan , Mexico and Somalia .

Coups in Africa and Central America .

All isolated incidents around the world that together made 2009 a grim milestone in world freedom , according to a United States think tank that tracks liberty around the globe .

Declines in freedom around the world outweighed gains last year , for the fourth year in a row , Freedom House says in its annual survey published Tuesday .

`` This represents the longest continuous period of deterioration in the nearly 40-year history '' of the report , writes this year 's author , Arch Puddington .

There were only 116 electoral democracies around the world in 2009 , the group found -- the lowest number since 1995 .

But the world is doing relatively well at democratic elections , compared with some other indicators .

`` Governments are more likely to permit relatively honest elections than to allow an uncensored press , a robust civil society , and an independent judiciary , '' Puddington writes .

The report is not all doom and gloom .

There was progress in Iraq , the Balkans , Malawi and Togo , Freedom House said .

And taking the long view , the world was more free in 2009 than when revolutions swept the communist world 20 years earlier . The Central and Eastern European democracies born in 1989 have largely retained their freedom , despite economic pressures stemming from the worldwide recession .

But much of the former Soviet Union is in a dire state . Central Asia is the least free region in the world , according to Freedom House , and contains two of the nine countries that got the survey 's `` worst of the worst '' rating .

Central Asia 's former Soviet republics of Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan are on that list , along with North Korea , Libya , Sudan , Myanmar -LRB- also known as Burma -RRB- , Equatorial Guinea , Eritrea and Somalia .

Ten other countries and territories fared only slightly better . They are Belarus , Chad , China , Cuba , Guinea , Laos , Saudi Arabia , Syria , the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia , and Western Sahara , which is fighting for independence from Morocco .

Freedom House groups countries into three categories : free , partly free and not free .

A total of 89 countries were rated free in 2009 . That 's 46 percent of the 194 countries and territories in the survey , representing 46 percent of the world 's population .

Freedom House listed 58 countries as partly free . That 's 30 percent of the world 's countries , with 20 percent of the global population .

The group said 47 countries were not free -- just under one in four of the countries in the world , but just over one in three of the world 's people .

China is home to more than half the people in the `` not free '' category , Freedom House said .

Freedom House describes itself as a nonprofit , nonpartisan organization that supports democratic change , monitors freedom , and advocates for democracy and human rights . It has been publishing its annual report since 1972 .

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Freedom declines outweighed gains in ' 09 , Freedom House says in annual survey

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Number of electoral democracies low , group says , but it calls voting rights relatively good

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Progress seen in Iraq , the Balkans , Malawi and Togo

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46 % of 194 countries , territories in survey rated free , 30 % partly free , 24 % not free